COP Newsletter

Paul, the Yough Stop manager, was able to get 20 sheets of plywood and the necessary adhesive donated from the Home Depot. They hauled the wood with a trailer borrowed from Kevin Gagnon’s workplace. With Jim at the whip, the three of them were able to knock out installing the plywood floor overlay on the second floor. With the addition of this plywood, one shouldn’t get seasick while walking across the floor upstairs. The mouse pee remains but the floor is solid!

Thanks to the Home Depot for their donation. Thanks to Jim, Eric and Paul for another successful work party at the Yough Stop.

COP boating will have a new, cooler than ever, t-shirt for sale soon. The tee is a white, long sleeve, 50/50 with front and back images of ...... well, you’ll have to wait for March to get a glimpse or check the web site. This shirt is perfect for chilly spring nights and shuttle dozing so order a bunch today. Sizes M-2X $15 each. $3 shipping per order if needed. Contact John Lane 486-4548 or lane.30 (AT) osu.edu They’ll be available at the COP filmfest and other places as we can schedule it.

Find yourself drooling on the pages of the 2001 NRS catalog? New Year’s resolutions fallen by the wayside? You my friend are in need of a fix. An injection of whitewater is clearly indicated. If you aren’t drysuit capable, now is the time to get back to the gym and start working on the delts, pecs and lats. Watch a few paddling videos and mark your calendar for the COP trips and schools coming up in February and March.

We would like to encourage new leaders

to become involved with COP boating. You don’t have to be a great paddler but you do have to be able to communicate and get along with groups of diverse people. Of course there are other requirements that are spelled out in our leader manual. We will have a leader training session held in February (?), led by Kim Sacksteder. Please contact me if you’re interested. Once you’ve been through that training, we’ll find some easy events for you to lead.

Mid-November and Lake Erie turns the color of frozen lead. The sky overhead usually a matte gray. Great time to go boating! Eric Lund, Larry

Krall, Rick Taylor and I took our longboats north and spent a weekend poking around the Marblehead peninsula looking for sea kayaking bright spots. Here’s our story....

Saturday we put in on Sandusky Bay from the Dempsey access. From there it was a short jaunt around the western shore of Johnson’s Island. Johnson’s Island is connected by a causeway to the mainland but it’s much more fun to get there by boat! We explored a drowned quarry in the middle of the island that connects to the bay. The harbor there is ringed with big dollar houses that are an out of reach treat to see. Following the coast to the east side of the island, we landed at the Confederate cemetery. During the Civil War, captured Confederate officers were imprisoned on the island. All that remains is the cemetery with its iron gate and fence, marble headstones and an information kiosk. The black, curling bark of the Kentucky Coffeetrees echoed the cold hard iron and gave a stern warning to tread softly where heroes lay.

Leaving the island, we paddled a canal cut through the Bay Point peninsula and bobbed up and down on the open lake.

We enjoyed the views of Kelley’s Island before heading back into the bay and setting sun. Hungry and cold, with 8 miles logged on the GPS, we headed to my folks’ house for bed and board.

Sunday brought a short paddle from the Mazurik access to the Marblehead Lighthouse. As soon as we turned the corner from the harbor, three foot waves greeted us and held our attention the rest of the trip. We dodged two ferry boats at Marblehead and then dallied in front of the Coast Guard station while the freighter "Richard Preiss" docked at the Marblehead quarry pier. Watching the big boat dock was an awesome sight – especially from the bobbing deck of a kayak. We decided to land near the lighthouse instead of on the surround rock ledges. The softest spot was a private beach made up of zebra mussel shards. Two of our group made it upright to the beach and the others dumped. The lake didn’t feel quite as cold as frozen lead but was darn chilly. A cell phone call to my dad brought a warm vehicle, then hot food and bathwater.